Playing around again with sous vide cooking. This time I decided to copy a recipe I had enjoyed at a kosher restaurant in London (Brasserie 103 in Golders Green). I had ordered a steak, which was good, but it came with carrots which were simply tantalising! It took a while to work out what they had done. They must have been cooked sous vide as they were sliced very thinly but were still quite firm although completely cooked. They definitely had saffron, but what else? The waiter whispered in my ear that the chef had put in cider vinegar. Usually our sous vide cooker is in use from Wednesday afternoon until shabbos cooking beef short ribs, but this week we were away from home for shabbos so I was free to use it on my weekly cooking evening, Thursday night (when my wife is too busy preparing for shabbos to have time to cook the supper!).

So here goes: I took a few strands of saffron and crushed them in a pestle and mortar with cider vinegar until they were completely dissolved. Poured the liquid into a sous vide bag, rinsed out the remaining juices from the pestle and mortar with some hot water and then put the bag in the freezer. This proved to be very important, as the first time I forgot this step and almost all the liquid got sucked into the vacuum machine

Took a large carrot, sliced it across into thin slices. Put the slices into the bag with the now frozen liquid, vacuumed out the air and cooked them in the sous vide for 45 minutes at 185 Fahrenheit. The results, we felt, were quite amazing! Went well with garam masala seasoned denise fish (or whatever they call in outside Israel) cooked in a griddle pan.

How long ago was that meal at Brasserie 103? Because the restaurant has closed (Mark: I never wrote a single about it anywhere! I promise! ).

Best,

GG

3 weeks ago, twice ... shame they have closed, as it was my regular place to eat in Golders Green. They had an excellent chef, but from what I gathered from the manager they had difficulty in persuading their frum clientele to be a bit more adventurous with their choice in food ... it was the best there was in the Golders Green/Hendon area though.

Well, it seems that this cloud has a silver lining, as although Brasserie 103 has closed, they plan to 'return to their roots' and reopen as Novellino (milky) which is what they were beforehand. Clearly the venture into meat was not as successful as they thought it would be (and I suspect some local milky places have also closed down, making it more worthwhile). In its heyday, Novellino was really excellent, but when it passed to new owners the management was so complex (6 partners!) that it fell apart.

Mike BG wrote:Well, it seems that this cloud has a silver lining, as although Brasserie 103 has closed, they plan to 'return to their roots' and reopen as Novellino (milky) which is what they were beforehand. Clearly the venture into meat was not as successful as they thought it would be (and I suspect some local milky places have also closed down, making it more worthwhile). In its heyday, Novellino was really excellent, but when it passed to new owners the management was so complex (6 partners!) that it fell apart.

Not tried either of them. Bevis Marks has a kashrut which is not regarded as one of the best in the UK, and I just never tried Me-Tsu-Yan. There is a really good Chinese place in Hendon which is not far (if you have a car, mind you) called Kaifeng.